You may have noticed that last week we announced the beginning of our annual LISTMANIA extravaganza. For those of you new to this orgy, our LISTMANIA blockbuster comes in four parts:
First, we re-print assorted lists of the year’s best albums, leeched from other big web sites and magazines, like the one last week from DECIBEL, which always seems to become the starting gun. Second, we will provide a post in which our readers can share their lists of the 2020 albums and shorter releases they enjoyed the most (we’ll be asking for those in about one week from now, so get ready). Third, we post the year-end lists of our own staff and assorted guest writers.
And fourth, I’ll again roll out my list of the year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs — which seems especially well-named this year, doesn’t it? That list is the subject of this request for help.
In case you’ve become an NCS reader since this time last year, here’s what this Most Infectious Song list is all about:
This is about individual songs, not albums, EPs, demos, etc. It’s also not our list of the best individual extreme metal songs of the year — though some of the songs might actually be among the best of the year. Instead, this is a list of the most infectious extreme metal songs we’ve I’ve heard this year. Yes, it’s my list, but I do take into account ideas from others — and the idea here is to think of songs that might produce involuntary physical movement, songs that have got catchy melodies or irresistible grooves, or anything else that sticks the song in your head and makes you want to keep listening to it.
To be one of the most infectious songs of the year, it should be something that you revisit often, something you put on playlists, something you mentally replay at unexpected times — songs you go back to repeatedly for listening. “Most played” might be a good synonym.
As is true every year, I do already have my own working list of candidates — and as in every other year, there are a ton of songs on there already. I’ll get more ideas from some of our other writers. But I have no doubt we’ll overlook some songs we really liked from earlier in the year, and there are inevitably a lot more that we just never heard at all. And so here’s where I’m asking for your help:
Please leave comments to this post with your own lists of Most Infectious Songs that you think ought to be on our list — or if you’re bashful, you can e-mail your ideas to me at: islander@nocleansinging.com
I’ll then pick what I think are the most infectious tracks of the year and start playing those songs for you in groups of two or three as we get closer to year-end. The first year we did this (2009), I limited the list to 10 songs. In 2010, I expanded it to 30. In 2011 it grew to 39. In 2012 it topped out at 56. In 2013 I worked really hard and got the list all the way down to.. gulp… 73. In 2014, life got in the way and I never finished the complete rollout, though I announced 62 songs before I gave up. In 2015 I stopped at 75. The list for 2016 included 71 tracks, and I included 78 of them in 2017. In 2018 I stopped at 99 (double-gulp!), and in 2019 I partially came to my senses and stopped the list at 60 tracks.
As you can tell, I have a really fuckin’ hard time making lists. Of course, I have no idea how many songs we’ll feature this year, although I’m aiming for something in line with the number I had last year.
So, please reflect on the songs you’ve found most addictive this year and let us hear from you. By leaving your list in the comments, you’ll also help make this post a way for other metalheads to find good music from the year that’s now rushing to an end. Thanks for your help.
20 Responses to “THE “MOST INFECTIOUS” EXTREME METAL SONGS OF 2020: OUR ANNUAL APPEAL TO READERS FOR HELP!”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Ah yes! I’ve always loved this. And is an excuse to check the albums out with the recommendations. Here’s my tentative list on that front.
1.Lowrider – Pipe Rider
2.Misery Signals – Sunlifter
3.Macbeth – In seinem Namen
4.Vredehammer – Agressor
5.Beggar – Blood Moon
6.Spell – Primrose Path
7.Orbit Culture – North Star of Nija
8.Cirith Ungol – Fractus Promissum
9.The Ending Cometh – Forming the Void
10.Fellahin Fall – A Fading Whisper
11.Axis of Light – Serpentine Smirk
12.Frowning – The Sound of Abandonment
13.Havukruunu – Kunnes Varjot Saa
14.Black Crown Initiate – Years in Frigid Light
15.Panzerfaust – Pascal’s Wager
16.Orden Ogan – In the Dawn of AI
17.Disavowed – The Enlightened One
18.Haken – Prosthetic
19.Battlemaster – Black Challenge
20.Burden of Life – Geistesblitz
21.Barishi – Old Smoke
22.Polaris – Vagabond
23.Bleed from Within – Night Crossing
These too.. sorry.
1. Descend – Blood Moon
2. Sylosis – I Sever
3. Ambush – Leave them to die
4. Demonic Death Judge – Filthy as Charged
5. Paradise Lost – Ghosts
I respond to you with this list:
1. Sweven – Mycelia
2. Ulcerate – Dissolved Orders
3. Grave Circles – Predominance
4. OmegaVortex – Cosmic Horror Maelstrom
5. Mörk Gryning – Fältherren
6. Necrophobic – The Infernal Depths of Eternity
7. Skeletal Remains – Congregation of Flesh
8. Selbst – The Depths of Selfishness
9. Bedsore – At the mountains of Madness
10. Convocation – The Abscence of Grief
11. Vampire – Melek-Taus
12. Paradise Lost – Serenity
13. Bythos – Omega Dragon
14. Aara – Arkanum
15. Nomad – In the hands of Progression
16. Temple of Void – The World that Was
17. Dark Tranquillity – Phantom Days
18. Anaal Nathrakh – Feeding the death Machine
The Breath of Chaos – Infera Bruo
Tyende Sang – AFSKY
The Serpent of Nastrong – Ovader
Silvery Howling – Ymir
Befallen Order – The Infernal Sea
Hellish Reaping Screams – Burial
—
Gnode – Atrae Bilis
Dream Infested – Noxis
Sadistic – Disembowel
—
The Lock and The Key – Fire in the Distance
The Eye of the End – Marche Funèbre
Radiance – Nug
Despair – Rannoch
Another World – Gojira
Necrophobic – Mirror Black
Te Ruki – E Vero Teie
Mystras – Castles Conquered and Reclaimed
Creative Waste – Enemy
Aeternam – Lunar Ceremony
Aborted – Gloom and the Art of Tribulation
Sojourner – Eulogy for the Lost
Wolfheart – The Hammer
I always get so much good music out of this series.
The Reticent – “Stage 2: The Captive”
Anaal Nathrahk – “Endarkenment”
Deftones – “This Link is Dead”
The Ocean – “Jurassic | Cretaceous”
Ulcerate – “Exhale Ash”
Stoned God – “Alive”
Protest the Hero – “All Hands”
Creature – “Fugue en Sol Mineur”
Code Orange – “You and You Alone”
Black Crown Initiate – “Sun of War”
Jordablod – A Grand Unveiling
Afsky – Tyende Sang
Panzerfaust – Aereopagitica
Lamp of Murmuur – A Burning Spear to the Heart of Dawn (Part 1)
Μνήμα – Vomitorious Desecration
Vonlaus – Gjaldþrot
Uprising – Uprise Part II
Spirit Possession – Deity of Knives and Pointed Apparitions
Spectral Voice – Ineffable Winds
Taake – Ubeseiret
Fanebærer – Lad ørne kun rives
Funeral Candies – Bapka
Ulcerate – Stare into Death and Be Still
Dynfari – Myrkurs er pörf
Fluisteraars – Nasleep
Liminal Shroud – A Hollow Visage
Sentient Divide – Ancient Dominion
Blood Spore – Dreading the Mycelial Mask
Undeath – Lesions of a Different Kind
Odraza – Bempo
Intellect Devourer – Damian Rose from the Tomb of Jesus Christ
Axis Of Light – Ginnel Witch
Wytch Hazel – Reap the Harvest
Kvaen – Revenge by Fire
Kannustaa – Don’t Leave Me
The Ruins of Beverast – Hunters
Kalt Vindur – Red Glow
Carcass – Slaughtered in Soho
PHEW
Nero di Marte – L’Arca
Ulcerate – Visceral Ends
Odraza – Najkrótsza z wieczności
Mourning Beloveth – I Saw a Dying Child in Your Arms
Wake – Mouth of Abolition
Melted Bodies – 99 Scents
Mamaleek – Elsewhere
Hail Spirit Noir – Crossroads
Igorrr – Himalaya Massive Ritual
Thy Catafalque – Embersólyom
Obsidian Kingdom – Mr. Pan
Panzerfaust – The Faustian Pact
Battlemaster – Black Challenge
Cytotoxin – Coast of Lies
Decoherence – Final Boundary State
Gulch – Self-Inflicted Mental Terror
Kvaen – Revenge by Fire
Lamp of Murmuur – Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism
Mountain Caller – Journey Through the Twilight Desert
Panzerfaust – The Snare of the Fowler
Skam – Shit Out of Luck
Svederna – Tempelhard
Undeath – Acidic Twilight Visions
Warbringer – Firepower Kills
Yaldabaoth – Megas Archon 365
Zeal and Ardor – Vigil
I turned all of these into easy Google Video search links to make it a bit easier to look up and listen to.
Thank you!
Here are the few songs i found impressive for this year 2020
Enslaved – Homebound
Necrophobic – Mirror Black
Gohrgone – Weakones Deceived
Naglfar – Vortex Of Negativity
Hinayana – Cold Conception ft. Nature Ganganbaigal
Vredehammer – Aggressor & Suffocate All Light
Heaven Shall Burn – Ubermacht
Tombs – The Hunger
Black Crown Initiate – Invitation
Inferi – Aeons Torn
Beltez – Grey Chills And A Whisper
Yaldabaoth – Megas Archon 365
Hellripper – Spectres Of The Black Moon
Ezkaton – Behind The Halo No More Lights
Paradise Lost – Darker Thoughts
Gaerea – Conspiranoia & Urge
Toadeater – Too Close To The Sun
Exitium Sui – Eviscerate My Withered Soul
Nexion – The Spirit Of Black Breath
Pallbearer – Forgotten Days
Soilwork – Death Diviner
Testament -Children Of The NExt Level
Regarde Les Hommes Tomber – The Renegade Son
Wayfarer – The Iron Horse (Gallows Frontier Act II)
Psychotic Waltz – While The Spiders Spin
The Black Dahlia Murder – Child Of Night & Verminous
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death And Be Still
Skeleton Remains – Congregation Of Flesh
Grimah – Facade Of Futile Reflections
Mimorium – I Am What We Are
Te Ruki – Te Nohi
Kevel – The Apophotic
Do – Gravity Sacrifice
Necrot – Sinister Will
Heaven Shall Burn – Ubermacht
Konvent – Puritan Masochism
Yatra – Sorcerer
Plague Years – Eternal Fire
Hellripper – Spectres of the Blood Moon Sabbath
Sylosis – Cycle of Suffering
Prosanctus Inferi – Dark Scarp of Hell
Arda – To Walk with Fire
Clouds – The Path of Sorrow
Vredehammer – s
Ulcerate – Disolved Orders
Kreator – 666 – World Divided
Enslaved – Homebound
Fides Inversa – A Wanderer’s Call and Orison
Skeleton – Mark of Death
Hinayana – Cold Conception
Havukruunu – Ja Viimein On Yo
Vredehammer – Winds of Dysphoria
Aeternam – Al Qassam
Ingested – Impending Dominance
Ripped to Shreds – White Bone Spirit
Gojira – Another World
Zeal & Ardor – Trust No One
Fuming Mouth – Master of Extrmeioty
The Corona Latern – Through this Swamp of Oblivion
Carcass – The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue
Korgull the Exterminator – Inquisitor Generalis
Cro-Mags – From the Grave
Gravenchallice – Behind Her Veil
Vengeful Spectre – The Expendables
Calligram – Kenosis
Aeternam – Lunar Ceremony
Afterbirth – Black Hole Kaleidoscope
Akurion – Bedsores to the Bone
Aseitas – Impermanence
Atrae Bilis – Ectopian
Avoidance – Deathcall of an Evil World pt.2
Beneath the Massacre – Hidden in Plain Sight
Binary Code – Notion of Gravity
The Black Dahlia Murder – Removal of the Oaken Stake
Carnosus – Lost to Funereal Desires
Constellatia – All Nights Belong To You
Convocation – The Absence Of Grief
Cosmic Putrefaction – Abysmal Resonance Projection
Cosmovore – Vessel
Cult of Lilith – Cosmic Maelstrom
Cytotoxin – Nuklearth
Defeated Sanity – Propelled into Sacrilege
Descend – Lily
Diabolic Oath – Apocryphal Manifestations
Exgenesis – Embers
Fluisteraars – Nasleep
I the Intruder – A.L.M. (A Loathing Message)
Inanem – Blackwork
Irist – Severed
Koronal – A Gift Of Consciousness
Kunstzone – Merciless
Mephistophelian – The Purge
Midnight Odyssey – Cold Winds Are a Distant Dream
Nero Di Marte – La Casa Del Diavolo
Perfecitizen – Humanipulation
Quasarborn – Bastion
Rannoch – The Dream
Serpent Column – Άράχναιν
Serpent Column – Splinters of Departure
Spectrum of Delusion – Into Another Formation
Sutrah – Lethe
Sweven – Mycelia
Valdrin – Red Burning Candles of Hatred
Wyrmwoods – Subterrane
Xenobiotic – Light that Burns the Sky
Zan – Wedding Gazebo Placebo
This has been a good year in my book for infectious viru.. ehh metal songs!
1. Katatonia – Untrodden
2. Paradise Lost – Darker Thoughts
3. Countless Skies – Glow – Part I: Resolution
4. Xenobiotic – Saphris
5. Sylosis – I Sever
6. Dawn of Ouroboros – Serpent’s Charm
7. Sunken – Ensomhed
8. Draconian – Claw Marks on the Grave
9. Dawn of Solace – Lead Wings
10. Lethian Dreams – Tidal
11. Shores of Null – Beyond the Shores (On Death and Dying)
12. The Ocean – Pleistocene
13. Aeternam – Ithyphallic Spirits of Procreation
14. God Dethroned – Book of Lies
15. Marche Funebre – When All Is Said
16. Wolfheart – Ashes
17. Dark Tranquillity – Remain in the Unknown
18. … And Oceans – Cosmis World Mother
19. Aleah – Breathe
20. Ashtar – Aeolus
21. Clouds – Images and Memories
22. Hanging Garden – Chance Encounters (Navigator)
23. Rotten Monarch – Winds over Ash
24. Wake – This Abyssal Pain
25. Mountaineer – Bloodletting
26. Selbst – The Depths of Selfishness
27. Kvaen – Septem Peccata Mortalia
28. Hail Spirit Noir – Alien Lip Reading
29. Gaerea – To Ain
30. Invernoir – Suspended Alive
I can’t stop listening to “Chains” by Nite
The lists have already started, but here are some of my picks (as always I’m frothing with anticipation for all the stuff I didn’t get to hear as of yet. Somehow Vredehammer has slipped past me, so I’m sure there’ll be many more great songs to be found from well-known bands and underground ones alike in the lists to come):
Inquisition – Triumphant cosmic death
Uada – Djinn
Funeral Candies – Буря над Пслом
Hail Spirit Noir – Incense swirls
Thy Catafalque – Tsitsushka
Anaal Nathrakh -Libidinous
Make them die slowly – The terror begins
Svederna – Folkets blod
Malokarpatan – V brezových hájech poblíž Babinej zjavoval sa nám podsvetný velmož
Tool – Pneuma
Rebel Wizard – dance of the duchess in the pale pink light
Gaerea – Conspiranoia
Toadeater – Crows and sparrows
Havukruunu – Pohjolan tytär
Not too late!